Fitting for flexible elements



July 8, 1952 J. B. RISHEL FITTING FOR FLEXIBLE ELEMENTS Filed March 22, 1945 Patented July 8, 1952 ()FFICE FITTING FOR FLEXIBLE ELEMENTS James B. Rishel, Plattsmouth, Nebr. Application March 22,1945, Serial No. 584,220

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 1 Claim.

as a rope or cable, and has for an object the 1 provision of ,an improved fitting of this type.

The jropes. that are used for towing gliders require some kind of fitting or eye on the end thatis attached to the tow plane to permit attaching the rope to a quick release mechanism on the tow plane. Heretofore it has been the practice to form an eye splice at the end of the tow rope for this purpose. It requires considerable time and special tools to form an eye splice on a nylon rope of the type used for glider tow ropes. Furthermore, this work frequently has to be done in the field where the necessary tools are not available. This places an additional burden upon the maintenance personnel and also ties up important equipment while the eye splice is being formed. The need of a fitting that may be attached to a glider tow rope firmly and securely without difiiculty and without special toolshas long been realized. A solution to the problem of providing such a fitting is acquired in accordance with this invention.

It is therefore a further object to provide an improved fitting that may be quickly attached to a flexible element firmly and securely without difiiculty and without special tools.

A still further object is to provide an improved fitting that may be secured to' a flexible element by a simple loop which may be formed by hand.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan View of one form of the fitting provided by this invention, with parts broken away for the sake of clearness, and showing a rope as attached thereto;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the fitting illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 33 in Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a partial plan View with parts broken away of the fitting of Fig. 1 when employed with a rope that does not contain communication 3, inclusive, illustrates one embodiment of a fit- 55 ting in accordance with this invention forquickly, securely, and easily attaching to a glider tow rope of the type having intercommunication wire woven therein. The fitting embodies an elongated main body portion indicated by the reference character I0, said body portion havinga chamber or recess II formed therein, and slower plate I2 for the recess. The recess I I is generally elliptical shaped and may be generally defined by side wall portions I3 and I4, end 'wall portions I5 and It, and a bottom wall II. Another recess or channel I8 is formed in the rear wall portion I6 .and extends from the rear of the fitting to the recess I I for leading a flexible element to'the recessII.-.

A substantially heart shaped lug I9, located within theconfines of the recess II, is formed integrally with the bottom wall I! and extends upwardly substantially fiush with the ,top of the side and end wall portions. A threaded holefis provided in the bottom wall I1 for receivinga bolt 24. The lug I9 and the bolt 24 are spaced from each other longitudinally of the recess II and substantially in line with the channel I8. These elements are utilized in a manner'that will be explained hereinafter for securing the fitting to a flexible element, such as, a rope or the like. A hole 20 is also provided in the bottom wall I? so that an end of a flexible element may be passed therethrough to the outside of therecess I I to permit fittings such as, communications plugs to be easily attached thereto.

A rope 2| is shown attached to the fitting in the normal manner. This rope is the nylon type that is generally used for towing gliders and it has intercommunication conductors 22 woven into the strands thereof. To secure the fitting to the rope 2 I, the bolt 25 is first posiioned as shown in Fig. 1, then an end of the rope H is pushed through the hole 20, then the rope 2I is passed around one side of the bolt 25, then once around the lug I9, and then again around the same side of the bolt 24 as before but in the opposite direction, and then out of the recess II through the channel I8. Then the bolt 24 is removed and the cover plate I2 is placed into position and fastened down with bolts 26 and 25 and four screws 26. The next step is to install a communication plug 2'! onto the communication conductors 22 and the connection is complete.

An important feature of the invention is that as tension is applied to the rope 2|, the outside turn of the rope, indicated by A, is drawn down against the inside turn, indicated by B, this action forces the inside turn B down tightly against the bolt 24. It will thus be seen that the end of the rope 2I is firmly held in the fitting by snubbing action of the lug I9 and the bolt 24 on the rope 2|, and the additional longitudinal snubbing between the turns A and B, from point a: to point y, or for that portion where the turns contact each other as they pass around the bolt 24. Most of the holding force is obtained by friction between the turns A and B from point :1: to point y.

As illustrated by the drawings, when the connection of the fitting to the rope is completed, the rope fits snugly in the recess I I and the wall portions defining the recess and the'cover plate prevents the loops from shifting, in a direction transverse to the fitting when'tension is applied to the rope.

A quick attaching means, indicated generally by the reference character 30, is provided at the front end of the fitting for quickly attaching the same to some object, such as a tow plane.

Fig. 4 illustrates a slightly varied form of the device of Fig. 1 that may be used with a plain rope 2| that does not carry communication conductors. In this embodiment the hole 26 is omitted as it is not necessary to attach a communications plug, such as illustrated in the above described embodiment; The complete connection comprises simply looping'therope once about the lug I9 and twice about the bolt 24 and fastening the cover plate I2 in position as illustrated. When tension is applied to the rope 2 I, the outside turn A of the rope is drawn down against the inside turn B and forces the inside turn down tightly against the bolt 24. As in the previous embodiment the end of the rope 2I is firmly held in the fitting by snubbing action of the lug I9 and the bolt 24 on the rope, and the additional longitudinal snubbing between the turns A and B, from point :t to point y, or for that portion where the turns contact each other as they pass around the bolt 24. As in the previous embodiment, most of the holding force is obtained by friction between the turns A and B from point x to point y.

From the foregoing description and the drawings it is seen that the rope may be quickly and securely attached to the fitting without difficulty and without special tools, simply by means of a loop which may be formed by hand.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variations maybe made in the structure without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

A terminal fitting for a flexible element such as a cable, rope and the like comprising in combination with the flexible element an elongated rigid terminal body member having a pair of frictional snubbing members thereon longitudinally spaced from each other sufilcient to permit the passage of a single layer of the flexible element therebetween a first of said snubbing members being positioned substantially on the longitudinal axis of the body member and the second of said snubbing members being spaced to one side ofthe longitudinal axis of the body member, guide means on said body member, said guide means having a portion parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body member and a curved abutment portion spaced from the periphery of the second snubbing member such that a portion of the flexible element positioned in the guide means in contact with the curved portion thereof will frictionally and radially contact at least a portion of a loop or bight passing around the second snubbing element, said flexible element being secured to said body member by a bight encircling the first snubbing member and the continuation of the flexible member forming abight of opposite hand around the second snubbing member, .a second loop in frictional radial contact with the bight on the first snubbing member and'extending through the guide means in radial and frictional contact with the bight on the second snubbing element whereby application of tension load to the flexible element will cause a compressing of the bights around the snubbing elements to thereby increase the frictional snubbing action'thereof.

" JAMES B. RISHEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 209,137 Rotschka et al'. Oct. 22, 1879 299,967 Davis s June 10, 1884 1,443,895 Harris Jan. 30. 1923 1,984,241 Sumenius Dec. 11, 1934 2,384,497 7 Siler Sept. 11, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 775,474 France Oct. 8, 1934 

